PENN TOWNSHIP
(Shelby County)

PENN TOWNSHIP (Shelby County)

PRAIRIE HOME

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
PENN TOWNSHIP. (SHELBY COUNTY.)

THERE is perhaps no body of land in this part of Illinois, of its size, that surpasses Penn Township in fertility of soil, finely improved farms, and beauty of landscape. The soil is a deep black loam particularly adapted to the growing of corn, th ough the smaller grains flourish well in moderately dry seasons. The meadows produce abundant crops of hay. The general surface is slightly undulating, and in some parts low or flat. In the last few years, since tile has been introduced, the citizens have taken a decided interest in that popular system of drainage, and at this writing there are but a few acres that are not under cultivation.

The township is situated in the extreme northern part of the county, and contains an area of twenty-four square miles, or 15,360 acres; bounded north by Macon county, east by Moultrie county, south by Pickaway, and west by Flat Branch and Moawequa townshi ps.

Daniel Roach and Aaron Armstrong, while scouting during the war of 1812, passed through what is now the county of Shelby, and being pleased with this part of it, so stated it to all their friends. John Armstrong, in company with Daniel Roach as guide, Rob ert Tolly, Elias Armstrong, and David Roach as companions, set out to investigate, and in October, 1825, John selected a site on section 6, town 13, range 3. The place is now occupied by Jacob Barr. They brought with them stretchers and log chains, set to work, cut logs, and hauled them to the place selected and John began the erection of the first log cabin in the north part of what is now Shelby county and Penn township. During this trip the rain was so frequent they only laid the foundation for the cab in. Running short of provisions, they all returned. John (who had previously married Miss Jane Roach) returned in November with wife and child in an ox wagon, and the honor falls upon John Armstrong as being the first permanent settler of what is now know n as Penn Township. He was born in Warren county, Kentucky, in 1803, emigrated with his father to Madison county, Illinois in 1809, who settled five miles south of Edwardsville, where he improved a farm and resided until his death in 1833. His family cons isted of self, wife, and thirteen children. John, with the help of his brother Elias and Robert Tolly, finished the cabin begun October, moved in and began to keep house and improve his farm. Mr. Armstrong had several encounters with the wild beasts that roamed abroad in those days. He killed three panthers near his cabin and one was the largest of its kind killed in this part of the country. The pelt measured eleven feet four inches in length.

Believing in utilizing all things, he tanned the hides and pelts taken, and made them up into moccasins, pants and hunting shirts. His market was St. Louis, and he also did his milling there. Salt, coffee and whisky were the principal articles of merchand ize needed; the bee trees furnished the sweetening. When Mr. Armstrong settled here his nearest neighbor was Levi Casey, who lived ten miles southeast, on Robinson Creek. His next nearest were __________ Walker, who lived twelve miles east, in what is now part of Moultrie country; Field Jarvis, who resided in what is now Christian county, fifteen miles west; Robert Tolly, settled on section 12, now known as Flat Branch Township.

Henry Johnson settled here in 1830, on section 31, Town 14 Range 3, now the Middlesworth place. He built a log cabin: cleared about four acres of land, became dissatisfied, sold his improvements to Armstrong for a hunting shirt, and moved away. His father , who was an Indian Doctor, remained part of the time living with the Indians.

William Drake located here in 1832, Armstrong selling him the Johnson improvements. He lived here but a few years, and another party entering the land, Armstrong hauled away the rails, etc., to his farm upon the head of Flat Branch.

G. M. and H. B. Thompson, brothers, came from Pennsylvania, and settled upon section 3. In 1827, a Mr. Hoggert settled in the north part of the township, (at that time a vast wild prairie) and known as the lonely cabin; there was also an improvement on se ction 1, called the Stoolfire place. In 1874, there was a stock company formed to build a store house and hall on the north-east corner of H. B. Thompson's farm; it was composed of some 30 or 40 stock-holders. Dr. Roe was the prime mover in the undertakin g. They erected quite a substantial building with store room and hall above; Roe & Co. put in the first stock of general merchandize, and succeeded in having the post-office removed to the same, and Dr. Roe was appointed post-master. The first post-office in the township was at the residence of S. G. Travis, who was the first post-master. The first white child born in what is now Penn, was Mary, daughter of John and Jane Armstrong, now Mrs. Mary Campbell.

Land Entries.--James T.B. Stapp on the 1st day of march, 1837, entered the W. 1/2, N. W. 1/4, section 31, and the W. 1/2, S. W. 1/4, section 31, containing 131.15 acres; Robert H. Ives entered section 23, on the 23d day of August, 1852, containing 640 acres; and John S. Hayward entered section 35, on the 24th day of August, 1852, containing 640 acres.

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PRAIRIE HOME.

General Store. -- By Ira T. Baird.

Physician. -- C. K. Roe.

Churches. -- The Presbyterian on section 34, was built in 1868; the M. E. Church on section 20, was erected in 1874.

Blacksmith. -- Solomon Wise.

The following are the names of the gentlemen who have served as Supervisors:

William Baird, elected in 1866, re-elected in 1867; H. Johnson, elected in 1868, re-elected in 1869; F. Orris, elected in 1870, re-elected in 1871, 1872 and 1873; H. Johnson, (Chairman), in 1874, re-elected in 1875, 1876, 1877 and 1878; E. B. Cutler, elec ted in 1879; H. B. Thompson, elected in 1880, and is the present incumbent. Among the more prominent farmers are H. B. Thompson, John W. Sanner, David G. Sanner, George Goodwin, S. H. Sanner, E. B. Sanner and G. M Thompson. Views of their respective place s can be found in the work. The citizens are an intelligent and industrious people, who are working in unison to make this the first township in Shelby county.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

SAMUEL SANNER, (DECEASED.)

AMONG the men who have made successful farmers on the prairies of the West, and have died leaving behind them the record of a good name and an honorable business career, was Samuel Sanner, from 1866 to 1880, a resident of Penn township; he was desc ended on his father's side from a family of German origin; his grandfather was a physician, who emigrated from Germany to America many years previous to the Revolutionary war, and settled in Pennsylvania -- the home of the great majority of the early Germ an emigrants to this country. Jacob Sanner, the father of Samuel Sanner, was born in Pennsylvania: his mother, Sarah Hanna, was the daughter of Samuel Hanna, who died in October, 1825; the Hanna family was of Irish descent, and now has numerous representa tives in some of the Western States. Sarah (Hanna) Sanner died on the 23d day of March, 1838. Samuel Sanner was the next to the oldest of a family of seven children; he was born on the 12th of September, 1803; his birthplace was about four miles from the town of Northumberland, in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, on the opposite side of the Susquehanna from Sunbury, the county seat of that county; he was raised in the same neighborhood. He had only ordinary ad- vantages of acquiring an education; he a ttended the district schools as he had opportunity, but most of his attainments in the way of learning were obtained by his own efforts; he had a quick and active mind and a good memory, and by general reading and observation succeeded in becoming well in formed on a great variety of subjects. He was an excellent penman, a good mathematician, and was familiar not only with the history of America but with that of European countries. He lived on a farm till nearly twenty years of age, and then began to learn the trade of a harness and saddle maker at Pennsboro, on the west branch of the Susquehanna. After serving a regular apprenticeship, he went into business for himself at Northumberland. On the 26th of April, 1827, he was united in marriage, by the Rev. W illiam R. Smith, to Barbara Paul, who was born on the 28th of February, 1810, the daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Miller) Paul; she was the only daughter and the third child of a family of seven children. Preston county, Virginia, her birth-place, is now included in the new State of West Virginia. When she was eight years old, in the year 1818, her father moved with the family from Virginia to Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, where Mrs. Sanner grew up to womanhood. Her parents were born in Virginia, and moved back to that State again from Pennsylvania, and died there.

After carrying on a harness and saddle shop in the town of Northumberland about six years, Mr. Sanner made up his mind to emigrate to the West. In May, 1838 he left Pennsylvania, crossed the Allegheny mountains to Pittsburg, and taking a boat at that plac e came down the Ohio and up the Mississippi river to St. Louis. St. Louis was then but a small town, and contained few inhabitants. Its stores could not have been very well stocked, for Mr. Sanner was accustomed to relate that he once went there to purcha se a stock of meat and could only find a single ham for sale in the whole town. It was his intention to settle in Peoria county, but the spring of 1833 was unusually wet, the roads, in consequence, were extremely heavy, and the family was obliged to stop in Madison county of this State. Travel was so difficult that it took three days to make the twenty-nine miles between St. Louis and the place where they settled. At that time Mr. Sanner had but little means; he had worked faithfully at his trade in Penns ylvania but had managed to accumulate only a little money. A family by the name of Lathey had accompanied them from Pennsylvania, and in partnership with them he bought a farm of 160 acres, in the nothern part of Madison county, nine miles north of Edward sville. After living there seven years he sold his interest in this farm and bought another about a mile distant, on which the family lived till their removal, to Shelby county. Although be began with a small capital he was a man of great industry and ene rgy, and succeeded in accumulating a competence and becoming owner of a fine and valuable farm. This farm consisted of 400 acres, situated in sections 26 and 27, of township 6, range 8. Land in Madison county increasing in value, and in order to obtain an abundance for his children, he finally concluded to sell his farm in that part of the state and purchase cheaper 1and else-

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where. He thought at first of removing to Kansas, but after visiting that state concluded that he preferred Illinois. He finally purchased between two and three thousand acres of land, the most of it lying in Penn township, Shelby county ; part in Macon c ounty, and a small quantity in Moultrie. The greater part was bought from the Illinois Central Railroad company. With the exception of about twenty-five acres it was entirely unimproved. At that time the prairie in that locality was wild and uncultivated, and contained few improvements. In the spring of 1866, the family moved to Shelby county and settled on section twenty-one of Penn township, then included in Pickaway township. The nearest neighbor was three-quarters of a mile distant, and the next three miles away. He sold part of this land, gave part to his children, and at the time of his death was the owner of about a thousand acres. He had never, from boyhood, possessed a strong constitution, but in the course of his life managed to do a great deal of bard work. When about fifteen be sustained an injury by falling from a house, the effects of which lasted through life. At different times he was afflicted with the lung fever. During the winter of l879-80 he was seized with severe illness, and his de ath occurred on the 19th of April, 1880. His widow still resides on the farm on which they settled on coming to Shelby county. At the time of his death he was seventy-six years, seven months and seven days of age. He lacked seven days of having been marri ed fifty three years. Three years before he had celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his marriage.

He was about six feet in height. His complexion was fair. His hair was dark, though many years before his death it became silvered with the frosts of age. His energy and perseverance were the main secrets of his success. His life had been one of hard, th ough cheerful toil. He was a natural mechanical genius, and could do the work of a carpenter as readily as though he had learned the trade. He was ambitious to succeed in the world, and whatever plan he undertook, his energy enabled him to accomplish. It may be said, however, with truth, that much of his success in life was due to the cheerful co-operation of his faithful wife, who shared with him his fortunes for more than half a century. He was a man of good business capacity, and upright and honorable in all his dealings. In all his transactions, in the course of a long life, he sustained the reputation of a man of strict personal integrity. No imputation of dishonesty was ever breathed on his character. He was cheerful in disposition, always looked on the bright side of things, and never gave way to discouragement. In his younger years, while living in Pennsylvania, he belonged to the Presbyterian denomination, but after coming to Illinois united with the Methodist church. In his politics, he was in e arly life a member of the democratic party, with which he voted till the agitation of the slavery question caused the formation of parties on a new basis. That he was in early sympathy with the anti-slavery movement is shown by the fact that he named one of his children, since deceased, Lovejoy, after that early martyr to the cause of human liberty who was killed at Alton. When the Republican Party was formed he became one of its earliest members, and ever afterward was firmly attached to its principles. He filled the office of Township Treasurer eighteen years while living in Madison county, and at one time was a candidate for probate judge, and in a remarkably close contest failed of election by only two or three votes. He was School Treasurer of congre ssional township fourteen, range three, part of which extends in Macon county. At the time of his death he was filling the office of Justice of the Peace. His children were as follows:--Sarah, who died at the age of twenty-eight days; Elizabeth, who marri ed H. J. Huestis, of Madison county, and is now deceased. Jacob H. Sanner, residing in Penn township; William H. Sanner, who died in Madison county in his eighteenth year; S. P. Sanner, one of the leading farmers of Bunker Hill township, Macoupin county; Elijah Parish Lovejoy Sanner who died in infancy; Edward B. Sanner, now farming in Penn township; David G. Sanner, a resident of Penn township; Tillie W., now the wife of Hiram Johnson, of Penn township; Shields H. Sanner, a farmer of Penn township;, Fran cis H. Sanner, who died in Madison county at the age of seven ; and John W. Sanner, who resides on the old homestead farm in Penn township.

JOHN W. SANNER.

THE youngest child of Samuel and Barbary Sanner, and who is now living on the homestead farm in Penn township, was born in Madison county, Illinois, on the fifth day of June, 1856. He was about ten years of age when the family removed from Madison to Shel by county. He first attended the common schools, and in the fall of 1872 entered McKendree college, in which he was a student for three years. He left college to begin the study of law in the office of Gillspie & Happy at Edwardsville, Illinois, in the fa ll of 1875. On account of failing health he quit his legal studies in 1876 and came to Penn township to engage in farming. On the 14th of November, 1878, he married Carrie A. Newsham, of Edwardsville, Illinois, daughter of Major Thomas J. Newsham of that place. He is an active and uncompromising republican in politics. He is engaged in farming, and owns five hundred and twenty acres of land in Penn township. On another page is shown an illustration of his farm in section twenty-one, formerly the residence of his father. He has one child, Bessie. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist church.

HIRAM JOHNSON.

THE history of the Johnson family in America dates back to four brothers of that name who emigrated from England early in the history of the New England colonies. Mr. Johnson's grandfather, Abraham Johnson, was born, lived, and died at Cornish, Sul livan county, New Hampshire. On the same farm in the year 1808 was born John Johnson, father of the subject of this sketch. In December, 1832, he married Miss Orrel Fletcher, daughter of Ebenzer Fletcher. She was born at Cornish, New Hampshire, in June, 1 813. Her grandfather, whose name was also Ebenezer Fletcher, served in the war of the Revolution. He enlisted as a fifer at the beginning of the war. He was wounded at Ticonderoga, and taken prisoner by the British. John and Orrel Johnson were the parent s of two children. The older resides on the old homestead farm at Cornish, New Hampshire, which has now been in the possession of the family for three generations. The younger, Hiram Johnson, was born at Cornish, Sullivan county, New Hampshire, on the t wenty-second of February, 1835. He grew up to manhood in his native town, obtaining his education in the common schools of Cornish, and in the Kimberly Union academy at Meriden, New Hampshire. Soon after reaching his majority he came west. In the fall of 1856 he began teaching in Madison county near Alton. He had charge of the school at Fosterburg, Madison county, for a number

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of years. In April, 1861, a few days after the beginning of the war of the rebellion, he enlisted in Co. F. of the Seventh Illinois regiment. The company, was commanded by Capt. Cummings. This was the first regiment mustered into the service at Springfiel d. During his three months term of service the regiment was stationed at Alton, Cairo, and Mound City. After the expiration of his term of service he returned to Madison county, and resumed teaching. In 1864 he again went into the army. About the first of September of that year he enlisted in Co. A. of the One Hundred and Forty-fourth Illinois regiment. This regiment was employed in garrison duty, and was mostly engaged in guarding rebel prisoners at Alton, though part of the regiment was sent to St. Loui s. He was stationed at Alton, and was honorably discharged in August, 1865, the war having closed. He enlisted as a private, was made commissary clerk, then sergeant-major, and afterward promoted to be second, then first lieutenant. On the twenty-seventh of September, 1863, he was married to Matilda W. Sanner, who was born in the northern part of Madison county, daughter of the late Samuel Sanner, who became a resident of Penn township, Shelby county, in the spring of 1866, and died in April, 1880.

In March, 1866, Mr. Johnson came to Shelby county, and the following May settled on his present farm in section twenty, township fourteen, range three, east, where he has since been engaged in farming. He owns four hundred acres of land. He has had five c hildren : Edward B.; John Samuel, who died on the ninth of October, 1880, at the age of nearly seven ; Ada, James Dawson, and Nellie May.

He has always been a republican in politics, and one of the leaders that organization in the northern part of the county. He has taken an active interest in public affairs and the people of Penn township have elected him to several public positions. He ha s acted as assessor of the township and school treasurer. The second year after the organization of Penn township he was elected a member of the Board of Supervisors, and has since served a number of terms in the same office. He is a gentleman of excelle nt business ability, and has discharged the duties of these positions with credit to himself and satisfaction to the people of his part of the county. In 1878, the republicans of the county made him their nominee for county judge, but it was not expected that he could be elected to the position in the face of the usual heavy democratic majority. He is a progressive and enterprising farmer, and his connection with the public business has made him well-known throughout the county.

G. M. THOMPSON.

MR. THOMPSON is now one of the oldest residents of Penn township. His father, George Thompson, was a native of Ireland, and spent his early life in that country and in England. When he was about nineteen years of age, he emigrated to America, and f irst made his home in Mifflin county, Pennsylvani. He was married in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, to Isabella Gardner, and settles on a farm in that county, where he lived till the time of his death. The subject of this sketch was the fifth of ten chi ldren, consisting of eight daughters and two sons. He was born in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, on the twenty-ninth of May, 1809. His opportunities for obtaining an education were limited to the common schools, which in that day offered scanty advantag es for obtaining an education, in comparison with those of the present time. He, however, attended school as he had opportunity, and secured the elements of a good business education. He was brought up on a farm, and his occupation has been that of a farm er all his life. On the twenty-sixth of November, 1832, he was married to Eliza Baird, who was born and raised in Center county, Pennsylvania. He came into possession of the old homestead farm in Pennsylvania, on which he lived till he came to Illinois. H e came from the farm, on which he was born and raised, to his present home in Penn township. From his early manhood he has always desired to come West. He came to Illinois in 1858, and in the fall of that year bought a half section of land in section thre e of township thirteen, range three, east. To this place he moved with his family in the spring of 1859, arriving in the township (then Pickaway) on the seventh of April. At that time there were few improvements in that part of the county. There were no s ettlements in the north nearer than the Sanner farm four miles distant ; on the east the nearest improvement was three miles away; he had a neighbor living within two miles and a half on the south, and three miles on the West. There was then little prospe ct of the prairie being entirely brought under cultivation for many years. Game was plentiful, and he could stand in his door yard and see frequent herds of twenty-five deer. In a short time, however, the deer disappeared from the country. He has bought a nd sold considerable land since coming to the county, and now owns four hundred acres in his home farm. His sons own land in the same neighborhood. He has been a successful farmer. At one time he was quite largely engaged in the sheep business. He has had nine children. The oldest daughter, Margaret Jane, is the wife of Joseph Travis, and now resides in Kansas. William Wallace, the oldest son, enlisted in the Seventh Kansas Cavalry, during the war of the rebellion, and while in the service, died at Fort R iley, Kansas. George Washington died in boyhood, and the next son, Lemuel, of typhoid fever, at the age of about twenty-three. James, who is now farming in Penn township was in the army during the late war, and took part in Sherman's march from Atlanta to the sea. Edwin enlisted in 1862, in the Fourteenth Illinois Regiment, was captured by the Confederates, while on picket at Savage Station, Tennessee, was confined in Andersonville prison about a year, and died after he was taken out, and about to be exch anged nearly at the close of the war. Samuel and Alton, the youngest sons, are farming in Penn township. The youngest daughter, Mary E., is the wife of John Stewart of Penn township. Mr. Thompson was originally an Old Line Whig. His first vote for Preside nt was cast in 1832, for Henry Clay. Andrew Jackson was the successful candidate at that election. He has never missed voting at a presidential election from that time to the present. He remained a whig till that party approached dissolution, and then joi ned the republicans, whose principles on the subject of slavery, and other questions he believed, represented the cause of humanity. He voted for Fremont in 1856, for Lincoln twice, and afterward for the successive republican candidates. He has been a str ong republican though in local elections, he has often supported the man, whom he considered best fitted for the office, without regard to politics. He has been assessor of the township three times, and for two years represented the township (then Pickawa y) on the board of supervisors. He has been a liberal and progressive citizen and has done what he could to assist in the development and improvement of his part of the county. His land is rented out to his sons, who live in the neighborhood. Since the ag e of twenty, he has been a member of the Presbyterian church, as is also his wife. He was an elder in the church, with which he was connected in Pennsylvania, and in coming to this county, assisted in the organization of the West Okaw Presbyterian church in Penn township, of which for many years he acted as elder.

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IN the work of developing the agricultural resources of Penn township, the Sanner family have borne an important part, and among the rest credit should be given to the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this sketch. When the members of this family came to the township in 1866, they found the prairie lying open and uncultivated, and in transforming it into a fine farming section they have done their full share. Edward B. Sanner was born in Madison county, Illinois, on the 29th of April, 1839 . His father, Samuel Sanner, had emigrated from Pennsylvania to Illinois six years before. He was born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, and in that county married Barbara Paul, a native of Virginia. After farming in Madison county, in this state, f rom 1833 to 1866, he moved to Shelby county, where his death in April, 1880, brought to a close a long and honorable career. A history of his life is elsewhere given.

The subject of this sketch grew to manhood in Madison county. In the district school about a mile from his home, he laid the foundation of a good business education. He attended regularly in the winter from the time he was old enough to go to school till he became of age. In the summer season he helped with the work on the farm. While his father believed in hard work and that boys should be kept from idleness, he was at the same time a firm friend of learning, and gave his children a good chance to acquir e an education which should fit them for all the necessary business transactions of life. At one time his father proposed to send him to college, at Lebanon, Illinois, but some pressing farm work intervened to make it necessary for his to say at home. He was living in Madison county during the war of the Rebellion. He was anxious to go into the service, and at one time made up his mind to enlist in a regiment of Zouaves, but on account of some of his other brothers being already in the army, he was oblige d to stay at home and assist with the work on the farm. On the 15th of November, 1865, he married Naomi Pierson, who was born in 1840, at Jacksonville, Morgan county, Illinois. Her parents, Dr. Daniel C. Pierson, and Naomi C. Nixon, were natives of the St ate of New Jersey. They emigrated to Illinois in 1833, and settled at Jacksonville Her father was a physician and practiced medicine several years previous to his removal to the West. Mrs. Sanner was living at Bunker Hill at the time of her marriage.

In the spring of 1866, Mr. Sanner accompanied the rest of the family from Madison to Shelby county, and in the fall of that year settled on a half section of land purchased from the Illinois Central Railroad Company -- the west half of Section 20 of towns hip 14, range 3, east. At that time there were few settlements on the prairie in the northern part of Penn township, then a part of Pickaway township. Part of the land was wet and gave little promise of developing into a rich agricultural district. He wen t to work with energy and soon succeeded in improving his farm and bringing it under good cultivation. He has a fine body of land. On another page a view of his farm and residence is shown, with the buildings recently erected and others which he proposes to build within a short time. Mr. and Mrs. Sanner have been the parents of seven children. Their names are: Willie, Albert, Hattie, Clifford, Ruth, Fannie and Samuel. Fannie, the next to the youngest child, died at the age of twelve weeks. In his politica l affiliations Mr. Sanner has always been a member of the republican party. He was brought up to believe in the wrong and injustice of slavery. He became old enough to take an

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interest in politics during those exciting times when the question of the extension of slavery agitated the situation. He was prompt to array himself on the side of what he believed to be the party of right and freedom. His first vote for President was gi ven to Abraham Lincoln, in 1860, and he has sustained the principles of the Republican party during the twenty years of its subsequent control of the administration of the country. He is a man who stands well in his part of the county. He is an energetic and industrious farmer, and one whose agricultural operations have been made profitable by his industry. He possesses a good head for business, and has accumulated considerable property since he has been engaged in farming on his own account. He is a man of thrifty habits, gives his personal attention to all the details of his farm work, and believes in carrying on agriculture according to the most modern and improved methods. In the fall of 1880, he erected a new barn which appears in a view of his farm on another page, and when he completes his new residence he will have one of the most convenient and valuable farms in Penn township. To such men any county is indebted. While their own immediate object may be the advancement of their own interests and t he accumulation of property, yet every acre of land which they bring under cultivation is a contribution to the material resources of the county, adds to its taxable wealth, and is thus a benefit to the community at large. As far as physical appearance go es, Mr. Sanner is a splendid specimen of the western farmer. He stands six feet five inches in height, is of a muscular build, and weighs in the neighborhood of two hundred pounds. He is a fair type of that stalwart race of farmers who have made the wild prairies of Illinois to blossom like a rose, and who have brought the state to the foremost rank as the leading agricultural section of the Union.

SHIELDS H. SANNER.

THIS gentleman, who has been engaged in farming, in Penn township for a number of years, is a native of Madison county, Illinois. His birth was on the 16th of October, 1847. His father, Samuel Sanner, was born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania ; followed the trade of a saddle and harness maker in that state for about six years; in 1833 emigrated to Madison county, Illinois; and in 1866 came to Penn township, Shelby county, where he died in 1880. Mr. Sanner's mother, whose name was Barbara Paul, was a native of Preston county, now a part of West Virginia. She is still living in Penn township. The subject of this biography was the tenth of a family of twelve children. His early education was obtained in the district school in the neighborhood of his home in Madison county. After he was old enough to be of much service he spent his summers in working on the farm, and in the winter went to school. He acquired the elements of a substantial English education. One winter he was a student in Blackburn University, at Carlinsville, Illinois. He was in his nineteenth year at the time of the removal of the family from Madison to Shelby county. The greater part of Penn township was then uncultivated prairie, and the township itself, then a part of Pickaway, contained few inhabitants. Mr. Sanner lived at home till his marriage to Miss Lucretia R. Frazier, which took place on the 1st day of January, 1872. She was the daughter of A. B. Frazier, then a resident of Penn township.

After this event Mr. Sanner went to farming on his own account, on section 24 of Penn township. After living there three years he moved to Bethany, Moultrie county, where in partnership with his brother-in-law, E. C. Frazier, he opened a hardware and agri cultural implement store. He was in business at Bethany from the fall of 1875 to January, 1878, when he returned to Penn township, and his present farm in section 22. His first wife died May 29th, 1878. His present wife, to whom he was married on the 14th of February, 1879, was formerly Miss Cornelia J. Green, a native of Licking county, Ohio. Her father, Joseph Green, was a native of the state of New Jersey; came to Pennsylvania when a boy; and when about twenty-one to the state of Ohio, where he married as his second wife, Electy Clutter, Mrs. Sanner's mother, who was born in Pennsylvania. Her father moved to Pickaway township, Shelby county, in 1867, and died in December, 1876. Her mother died in Ohio. A view of Mr. Sanner's farm in Penn township, appe ars on another page. He was brought up to believe in the doctrines of the republican party, and is one of the strongest supporters to be found in Penn township -- one of the few republican localities in Shelby county. He cast his first vote for president, for Gen. Grant, in 1868, and has voted the republican ticket from that time to the present. He has had five interesting children, whose names are as follows: Paul Simpson, Frances Estelle, Margaret Grace, Louis Ross, who died in infancy, and Lina H. The last is by his present marriage. Mr. Sanner is one of the younger farmers of Shelby county, and is known as a progressive citizen. He is a member of the Methodist church.

ORSON SWEET.

ORSON SWEET, who has been engaged in farming, in Penn township since 1858, is a native of Geauga county, Ohio, and was born on the nineteenth of February, 1849. His grandfather, Lewis Sweet, lived in Connecticut, and was a soldier in the Continenta l army during the war of the Revolution. He afterward removed to Ohio, and was one of the first settlers of Ashtabula county. He afterward moved to Geauga county, and was the second settler in the town of Russell. Daniel W. Sweet, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Ashtabula county, and was a small boy when the family moved to Geauga county, where he married Phylena Millard. Daniel W. and Phylena Sweet were the parents of eleven children, of whom only two are now living, Orson Sweet, and a brother who resides in Ohio. Orson Sweet was raised in Geauga county. His father was a carpenter and farmer, and still resides in Ohio. He obtained his education in the common schools. On the seventeenth of July, 1858, he married Ervilla Pelton, daughter of Gustavus S. and Lydia (Bailey) Pelton, who was born in Geauga county, Ohio, on the twenty-fifth of January, 1841. Her father was born in the town of Gustavus, Trumbull county, Ohio, and afterward settled in Geauga county, where he is still living. Afte r his marriage Mr. Sweet was employed on a farm and in a box factory at Russell, Ohio. He had from boyhood been employed in some kind of a mechanical occupation. Thinking that they could better their circumstances by coming west, Mr. and Mrs. Sweet settle d in Penn township, Shelby county, arriving on the fifteenth of October, 1868. In 1872 he purchased the farm he now owns, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres, and situated in section thirty-three, township fourteen, range three, east. They have one child, Sallie Iona, now the wife of Jacob L. Fryar, who is farming in Penn township.

In his political opinions he has always been a republican. His first vote for President was cast for Abraham Lincoln in 1864, and he has been a strong supporter of the republican party from that time to the present. He is connected with the Methodist Chur ch. He is one of the best class of citizens of Penn township, and has served six years as commissioner. He is well qualified as a mechanic, is apt at handling tools, and the buildings on his farm have been constructed in a great part by himself.

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DAVID G. SANNER.

ONE of the representative farmers and large land owners of Penn township, is a native of Illinois, and a worthy son of the state on whose soil he has always lived. He was born in Madison county, on the sixteenth of May, 1842. His father, Samuel San ner, was a native of Northumberland county, Pennsylvania and his mother, Barbara Paul, of Preston county, West Virginia. The family emigrated from Pennsylvania to Illinois in the year 1833, and settled in Madison county, nine miles north of Edwardsville. Elsewhere will be found a biographical sketch of Mr. Sanner's father, who came to this state possessed of but little means, and who by his industry, energy, and superior business management, accumulated a competence. He became a resident of Penn township in 1866, and died in the spring of 1880, leaving behind him a good name as an honest man and a useful citizen.

The subject of this sketch was the eighth of a family of twelve children. His early boyhood days were spent in the same neighborhood in Madison county, where his father settled on coming to this state. His educational advantages were confined to the commo n schools. Good schools had been established in Madison county, which afforded ample opportunities for instruction in the fundamental branches. As was the custom he worked on the farm in summer, and in the winter time when farm work was slack and the days short, was a student in the old country school-house, where he mastered the mysteries of reading, writing, and arithmetic -- the three particular branches with which it was considered every man should be thoroughly familiar. Mr. Sanner gained a good busi ness education. His father was a man who was a firm believer in the doctrine of raising children to habits of industry, and consequently in early boyhood he learned what it was to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. It may be said, to Mr. Sanner's c redit, that this was a lesson he has never forgotten and that he bears to this day the reputation of an active and constant worker, and an energetic and industrious man. He was living at home during the war of the rebellion. He started to enlist during th e first part of the war, but from some circumstance remained at home till the fall of 1864, when he enlisted in Co. A, of the One Hundred and forty-fourth Regiment, Illinois Infantry. His company was commanded by Capt. George W. Carr. He enlisted on the t hird day of September, 1864. He was mustered in at Alton. He had supposed that the regiment would be employed on active service in the field, but it was retained instead at Alton to perform garrison duty, though part of the regiment was sent meanwhile to Missouri. He enlisted as a private, but was afterwards detailed for service in the regimental band. He was stationed at Alton during the winter of 1864-5. The succeeding spring brought the war to a close, and on the fourteenth of July, 1865, he was muster ed out and honorably discharged at Springfield, and returned to the farm. The next year, the spring of 1866, the family moved from Madison to Shelby county, and settled in Penn township. Mr. Sanner was living with his father on section twenty-one till his marriage, which took place on the twenty-eighth of April, 1870, to Miss Mary E. Freeland, then a resident of Milam township, Macon county, daughter of David J. Freeland. Her father was born in North Carolina, left that state when a boy of fifteen, and ca me to Moultrie county, Illinois. He was engaged in farming in Coles and Moultrie counties, and then

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moved to Milam township, Macon county, where he now owns a large body of land. Mrs. Sanner was the oldest child by her father's second marriage. Her mother was Martha Sawyer, a native of Coles county.

In the spring of 1870, Mr. Sanner began farming on his own account on a half section of land in Milam township, Macon county. After residing six years on that farm, he returned to Penn township, and for one year was engaged in the management of his father 's place on section twenty-one. In 1877 he moved to his present farm. This farm, situated on section twenty-three of Penn township, consists of three hundred and twenty acres, and is one of the finest bodies of land in that part of the county. He is the o wner beside of a half section in Milam township, Macon county, of fifteen acres of timber in Moultrie county, and considerable town property in Bethany, Moultrie county. He rents out the Macon county farm and part of his farm in Penn township. He has been engaged in general farming and stock raising. He has had five children, whose names are as follows: -- Charles Wesley, Carrie Belle, Frankie Ellis, who died in infancy, Samuel Walter, Cyrus David, and Orville Arthur Sanner, youngest child of David G. San ner. Like all the other members of the Sanner family he is a strong republican in his political convictions. He started out by casting his first vote for President for Abraham Lincoln at his second election to the Presidency in 1864, and has always voted the republican ticket from that time to the present, and is a staunch believer in the principles of the organization, through whose instrumentality he believes slavery was abolished and the union preserved. His attention has been closely devoted to his ow n business affairs. His transactions with his fellow-men have been marked by fairness and honesty, and in all things he has borne the reputation of a good citizen. He is one of the progressive farmers of the county. He believes that agriculture is an occu pation in which brains can be as successfully employed as in any other business. He belongs to that class of men who are most active in developing the material resources of the country, and who for that reason should be prized as among the best citizens. A full page illustration of his farm and residence in Penn township has been furnished through Mr. Sanner's liberality.

JACOB H. SANNER.

IF any particular class of the citizens of this republic deserve credit more than another it is those who bore arms in her service and defended her honor on the field of battle. Jacob H. Sanner was a soldier in the recent war of the rebellion. He i s now the oldest living child of the late Samuel Sanner, of Penn township, a history of whose life appears in these pages. He was born in the town of Northumberland, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, on the thirteenth of November of the year 1830. He was in his third year when the family removed from Pennsylvania to Illinois in 1833. He grew up to maturity in Madison county. His schooling, was confined to the winter season of each year, and mostly by his own efforts he secured a good business educatio n. When he had grown up he learned the carpenter's trade, at which he has occasionally worked through life. In April, 1861, the same spring which inaugurated the war of the rebellion, he left home for Indiana. While on his way he heard for the first time the news of the firing on Fort Sumter. He worked at his trade in Indiana till the next fall.

On the tenth of October, 1861, he enlisted at Terre Haute, Indiana, in Co. A., Forty-third regiment, Indiana Infantry. From Terre Haute the regiment proceeded to Evansville, and from there to the town of Calhoun, on Green river in Kentucky. The men next m arched to Carrollton, Kentucky, and after lying there two weeks returned to Calhoun. While at that place the battle of Fort Donelson was fought and the regiment was ordered to reinforce Gen. Grant at that point, but owing to an accident to the boat on whi ch they were to embark, it was found that they would be unable to reach Fort Donelson in time to be of any service, and so were ordered to the mouth of the Tennessee, then to Smithland, Kentucky; then to Evansville, Indiana; then back to Smithland; then t o Paducah, and then to Cairo. From Cairo they were sent up the Mississippi forty miles and then marched inland to Benton, the county seat of Scott county, Missouri, from which place they proceeded to New Madrid, Missouri, and after lying there several day s went down the river to Riddle's Point and took part in an engagement with the Confederates. The regiment then crossed the river to Tiptonville and proceeded to Fort Pillow, and assisted in the capture of that important post. Their next work was to help take the city of Memphis from the hands of the rebels, which was successfully accomplished in June, 1863. While his regiment went up the White River in Arkansas, he was detained at Memphis by sickness, and rejoined his regiment at Helena, Arkansas, on the nineteenth of July, 1862. He was stationed at Helena till the eleventh of August, 1863, and while there took part in various scouting expeditions, among which was a trip to the Coldwater river to tear up the railroad from Jackson, Mississippi, to Memphis , and thus interrupt the enemy's communications, and a movement to Yazoo pass with the object of drawing off part of the Confederate forces from around Vicksburg which Grant at that time was besieging. He took part in the fight at Helena on the fourth of July, 1863, between the Union forces under Gen. Prentiss and the Confederate, Gen. Holmes. His regiment went to Little Rock, Arkansas, in August, 1863, and remained there till the twenty-third of March, 1864. During that time Mr. Sanner was principally on detached service, and assisted in fitting up the Little Rock hospital. While at Little Rock (on the first of February, 1864), he re-enlisted in the veteran service. From Little Rock the regiment went to Camden, Arkansas, and after staying there about a w eek, was sent as part of an escort to a supply train bound to Pine Bluffs for supplies. At Mark's mill, between Moro creek and Saline river, where the train was delayed in crossing a difficult bottom, they were attacked by a cavalry force nine or ten thou sand strong, from Gen. Jo. Shelby's command. The escort to the wagon-train consisted of twelve hundred men -- parts of the forty-third Indiana, the Thirty-sixth Iowa, and the Seventy-seventh Ohio and five pieces of artillery. The train was composed of fou r hundred wagons. They had been placed in a very disadvantageous position, through the fault of the officer commanding the train; and, after fighting till their ammunition was exhausted, there was nothing to do but surrender. The fight lasted from nine in the morning till two in the afternoon.

He was taken back to Camden, which the Union general had evacuated on learning the loss of the supply-train, and from there to Camp Ford, near the town of Tyler, in Smith county, Texas. He was taken prisoner on the twenty-sixth of April 1864, and till the twenty-sixth of February, 1865, when he was exchanged at the mouth of the Red River, he had ample opportunity to experience confederate hospitality as displayed in southern prison-pens. His rations were short and scanty, but this was only one of the many inconveniences he suffered. At one time four thousand Union prisoners were confined at Camp Ford. Mr. Sanner is now a member of the Andersonville Association of the Survivors of the Pri-

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soners of the late war. After his exchange he reached New Orleans on the twenty-seventh of February, 1865. He left there March the seventh, and coming up the river to Cairo from that place, went to Indianapolis, where he was on duty till the fifteenth of June, 1865, when, the war having closed, he was honorably discharged and mustered out of the service. He lacked about four months of having served four years. He had enlisted as a private, was elected corporal on the organization of his company, was next promoted to sergeant, and was appointed first sergeant on the first of March, 1865. While he had no opportunity to take part in any of the great battles of the war, east of the Mississippi, he was in several severe engagements, and his regiment did its sh are of heavy marching and played a prominent part in freeing important points on the Mississippi from the grasp of the confederates.

After the close of his service in the army, he returned to Madison county, and in the spring of 1866 accompanied the rest of the family to this county. He has since resided in Penn township, and has been employed on the farm, where also he has found occas ional opportunity for his skill at his trade. Like all his brothers, he is a republican in politics and has been connected with that political party from the time of its first organization. He is the only one of the Sanner brothers in this county who was not born in this state, but takes as much pride in Illinois as though it were his place of nativity, instead of the state of his adoption.

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